QotM

[elaby]

A Question of the Moment, because dakegra is away, and inspired by my current transcription project, which features a guy who grew up in the same area I did.

Is the phrase "down cellar" to mean "in/to the basement" strange to your ear, or perfectly normal? Usages would be:

"Where's Dad/the cat/the vaccuum cleaner?"
"Down cellar."

Or

"Where are you going?"
"Down cellar."

It's used sort of as a companion to "upstairs" in that it can mean a place and a direction.

I'm wondering if this is a regional thing or not.

Comments

[miss-next.livejournal.com]

Slightly odd. If I didn't know you were American, I should think it was a variety of northern English and very probably hear it as "down t'cellar" (which is what tends to happen to the word "the" in a lot of northern accents, including the Yorkshire varieties I hear every day). It is worth pointing out that I'm not originally from Yorkshire. :-)

[elaby.livejournal.com]

Neat! I have a feeling that New England type accents have morphed from different English accents.

[elaby.livejournal.com]

Ohhh... interesting! We never had a vegetable cellar :) We just had the one that was the foundation level of the house. Only that was half underground too.

[elaby.livejournal.com]

It was the omission of that "in the" that made me wonder whether it was unusual! It's cool you grew up with "cellars" though, and not basements :)

[elaby.livejournal.com]

I don't know! I wonder if it was difference in how the ground was. I don't know if you could have built a root cellar type thing in the rocky ground out here.

[caitirin.livejournal.com]

I never heard it till I was living out here.

I would always have said 'to the basement' or 'in the basement'

[elaby.livejournal.com]

I think the basement/cellar thing is regional, too. I'm starting to get influenced by you calling it the "basement" :)

[caitirin.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* I've always said I'm a bad influence on you! ;)

[elaby.livejournal.com]

Only if by "bad" you mean "fantastic" :)

[dave-t-lurker.livejournal.com]

Sounds fine to me (grew up in East London with Irish & Yorkshire neighbours)

[elaby.livejournal.com]

Aah, cool :) That's interesting to know! It seems to be a Yorkshire-ish sounding phrase.

[oed-1.livejournal.com]

It's a little odd. I can understand what it means, but it does not ring as a natural phrase in my ear.

[elaby.livejournal.com]

That's exactly what I was wondering. Thank you! It sounds perfectly natural to me, if, at the present time, a little nostalgia-inducing.

[oed-1.livejournal.com]

But I am also a guy who says 'duck, duck, grey duck' not 'duck, duck, goose'...so take it as you will (grin)

[elaby.livejournal.com]

That's really cool! I've never heard that one :)

[hellziggy.livejournal.com]

That's because it is 'duck, duck, grey duck!'

[hak42.livejournal.com]

I would say "down cellar" or, more likely, "down cellah". I'm not sure I can say "cellar" with an "r" at the end.

[elaby.livejournal.com]

*grins* Exactly. It would sound too pirate-y! Cell-arrrr.

It's definitely a New England thing, then, I think :)

[x-pyewacket-x.livejournal.com]

Yep, totally normal phrasing. :3

[elaby.livejournal.com]

Thought so! Hee ^_^

[anonymous-greg.livejournal.com]

I've never heard the phrase "down cellar", but it would seem, logically, to be short for "down in the cellar".

[anonymous-greg.livejournal.com]

And, of course, I should actually answer your question...

It sounds strange to me. But then, many abbreviated versions of proper phrases sound strange to me. It's almost as if somehow it is too much work for the speaker to use the extra couple of syllables -- that is what seems strange.

[elaby.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it does seem strange. I think dropping bits of sentences is a regional thing in many countries. Though "downtown" has become pretty widespread, hasn't it?

[elaby.livejournal.com]

It is indeed :) Or "down to the cellar". Leaving out those bits seems normal for accents.

[anonymous-greg.livejournal.com]

Every one has an accent.

[anonymous-greg.livejournal.com]

every one everyone

[elaby.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know everyone has an accent. I should have said "for dialects different from the most widespread norm." I was trying to draw comparisons between the fact that some dialects in northen England, for example, leave out words that are present in Received Pronunciation.

And that in "Yinglish", as I found out when I saw the play "The Yiddish are Coming!", the "of" is left out in things like "cup of coffee." I'll have a cup coffee!

[nextian-cutie.livejournal.com]

I never heard it until I met my hubbster's family. They're New Englanders. It still sounds funky to me after 10 years! I'm from Spokane, WA and we just say "in the basement" which, I think, is pretty much what everyone who isn't from New England would say.

[elaby.livejournal.com]

I think you're right :) Thanks for your input!

[coastal-spirit.livejournal.com]

It sounds perfectly normal to me. *giggles* Whaddaya mean?

What we actually had in our house, I believe, would be classified as a "basement". Grampy Wes had a "cellar", and we have an icky "cellar" in this house. However, we called it a cellar because it is a regional thing.

[elaby.livejournal.com]

Of course it does! ^_^

I figured as much. A finished type thing that you can comfortably hang around in is a basement. I still like calling it a cellar, though :)

[hellziggy.livejournal.com]

Nope, not normal. Words missing. Also, is basement, not cellar. :)

[elaby.livejournal.com]

Hehehe, indeed! Silly me, forgetting words.